


Linked Dreams

by oliviabeauregard



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationship, Child Leia Organa, Child Luke Skywalker, Dreamsharing, Force Bonds, Gen, Kid Fic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:55:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26100760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliviabeauregard/pseuds/oliviabeauregard
Summary: Luke dreams about trees and puddles and a girl named Leia. Leia wants to know why her parents are worried about Darth Vader.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	1. The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited for this fic. I'm planning it on spanning from when Luke and Leia are very young, through Rebels, and to Return of the Jedi. So expect some Rebels characters later, and also Han. Tags will be added once chapters are posted.

Luke was bored. He never thought he’d miss going outside in the suns’ midday heat before, but staying inside for as long as they had was making him miss even the most menial outdoor chores. 

The sandstorm that had been raging for the past two days was still going strong. Usually, sandstorms only lasted a few hours. Luke and his aunt and uncle would hole up in the homestead to wait it out. Before, Luke would be secretly grateful for the sandstorms even though they would have to scrub the vaporators inside and out, because Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru would play board games with him to pass the time. Uncle Owen almost never let himself have fun, always “harvest this,” and “vaporators that,” and “Luke don’t you dare touch that speeder,” among other things. 

But playing board games was only good for his aunt and uncle for the first few hours. Then, to Luke’s horror, they decided to use the time to teach him his letters “properly.” Aunt Beru had only had a small window of time in the day for Luke’s education, and now that they had plenty of time indoors he felt like he would start reciting Aurebesh in his sleep. He could talk and do math just fine, and he knew all the letters, he just...had some trouble spelling. But Biggs couldn’t spell all that well either, and he was three years older than him! So spelling didn’t matter all that much, really…

After a few hours of boring studying, Aunt Beru finally let him go play in his room. He toyed with his model skyhopper for a while, but eventually settled down on his bed, feeling unsatisfied for some reason. He sprawled out on his covers, listening to the harsh sounds of the wind and sand. He wondered how deeply buried the homestead would be in the morning, if the storm even finished by then. Maybe he’d be doomed to stay indoors forever. Never to learn to fly, never to see the stars, just reciting Aurebesh and drifting in his bedroom for all eternity…

He didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he found himself in what had to be a dream. He was standing outside in the desert, the homestead nowhere in sight. It looked like it was just after first dawn, though he didn’t feel the early morning chill like he should. 

Luke shuffled his feet a bit. This was looking out to be a boring dream. Last time he remembered a dream he had been flying in a ship, soaring between asteroids. Maybe if he looks around he’ll find something interesting? 

He saw Beggar’s Canyon to his right, and he started walking. The sand was soft and shifting under his boots. He wondered if he could walk all the way to Biggs’ house, maybe they could share a dream?

Luke came to a stop as he spotted something weird in the distance. It was something tall and green, about halfway between where he was standing and the edge of the canyon. He broke into a run, and suddenly found himself right in front of it. 

It was a  _ tree.  _ And not the gnarled and cracked cliff trees that the Tuskens cultivated, but a tall, leafy, beautiful tree that had no place in the desert. He’d only seen the like in the few holovids of other planets his aunt and uncle owned, but it could never compare to the real thing. Or at least, the dream version of the real thing. 

He was so preoccupied with the tree he didn’t notice he had company until an annoyed voice said:

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?”

Luke jumped and stepped back a bit. There was a girl sitting down at the base of the tree, looking puzzled. She was wearing a white dress, but it looked nothing like the tunics he would wear to manage the brutal heat. She looked like a polished porcelain doll, with pretty braids in her hair and an unstained white gown. 

While he had been staring, the girl had stood up. She was now glaring at him with crossed arms. “Well, dream boy?” she asked. 

“Um.” He suddenly regretted comparing her to a doll, since she definitely didn’t seem fragile. She seemed like she’d hit him if he didn’t start talking. “I’m Luke?”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

He scowled, beginning to feel annoyed. “My name is Luke,” he said firmly. “Who are you?”

“Shouldn’t you already know? You’re part of my dream.”

“No, you’re part of  _ my _ dream!”

The girl merely rolled her eyes. “Mother says that dreams come from your brain trying to deal with stuff in real life. If you’re part of my brain, then you should know who I am.”

Luke...no longer thought this girl was a pretty porcelain doll. She was annoying, and he would like to enjoy his dream tree without her. “Whatever.” He didn’t really know what to say. It didn’t help that she sounded a lot smarter than him. 

He deliberately circled the tree so he couldn’t see the girl. When she leaned over to look at him, he shuffled further to hide. She then leaned over the other side, to which he leaned the other way, and soon they were chasing each other in circles around the tree. 

Their earlier animosity forgotten, they chased each other across the sand in an unprompted game of tag. Luke was able to avoid her with ease since she kept swerving and jumping at random places for some reason. It was like she was avoiding imaginary obstacles. 

“How...are you  _ doing  _ that?” the girl said, out of breath. They had stopped next to the tree for the moment, both panting. 

“Doing what?” Luke asked. He was a little distracted by the feel of the tree bark. For some reason, he’d always assumed trees felt damp all over, but it was very dry and slightly sticky in some places. 

“You keep passing through the trees like a ghost! And you’re not making any splashes in the puddles, either!” 

Luke looked at the girl like she was crazy, which she clearly was. “What are you talking about? We’re in the middle of the desert. This is the only tree here.” 

The girl gave him a look like she thought he was the crazy one, which was rude. Then she shrugged and said, “Must be a dream thing. Also—”

The girl lunged forward, and Luke barely managed to dodge her reaching hand—

“Tag!” Their game was resumed. While Luke didn’t have to dodge imaginary trees and puddles, running on loose sand takes its toll, even without the heat of the suns. He wondered why his dream spared him of overheating but still let him get tired--his distraction finally allowed the girl to tackle him from behind. 

“Got you! Now you’re–woah…”

Luke’s face was pressed into the sand, the surprisingly strong girl pinning him down. Except the ground wasn’t sand anymore. The ground was covered in short, thin,  _ green  _ strips, growing out of dark, solid soil. His face and front were damp with moisture. 

_ Grass... _ Luke thought with amazement. This must be grass!

“A desert?” the girl on top of him said, though he wasn’t paying attention. Luke was too busy being enthralled by the little sticks? Leaves?  _ Whatever  _ of grass that was waving a bit whenever he breathed. 

It all ended when the girl rolled off of him. As soon as they weren’t touching, the desert sands were once again the ground and the grass was gone. 

Luke stood up slowly, peering at the girl next to him. She was studying him closely. She poked him.

The vision of grass reappeared, and he could also see other trees. He was standing in a forest with tall trees and green bushes and grass under his boots. 

There was a split second where the desert came back when the girl stopped touching him before she grabbed his hand and the forest returned. 

“Is this what you meant by desert?” the girl asked. Luke thinks he knows what she’s talking about, in a way that dreams make confusing things seem normal. 

“Is this what you meant by trees and...and  _ puddles!” _

He runs forward, dragging the girl by her hand. He drops to his knees, ignoring the girl’s protests, and stares at the puddle in front of him. 

Luke sticks his hand in the water, marveling at the sheer concept. He can feel mud squish between his fingers and the water cooling his palm. 

“What are you doing?” the girl asked in a tone of voice that would have made him angry, but he had a hand wrist-deep in a  _ puddle  _ so he couldn’t care less. 

“There’s a puddle,” he said simply, knowing she probably couldn’t see it. 

“You’re weird.”

Luke ignored her. After a few moments, she sat down next to him, still grasping his hand tightly. 

“I’ve never seen a sunrise like this before,” the girl said quietly. “The light’s all weird.” 

“It’s the twin suns,” Luke said. “They make everything really hot and dry, but sunrise and sunset are awful pretty.” Luke often thought it was the one good thing about Tatooine. 

The girl was quiet for a bit, before standing up and shaking his hand loose. Luke immediately stood up as well, protesting. The desert with the lone tree was back and if he had the opportunity to play in puddles in his dream then he was going to take it!

“I think I know why you’re in my dream, now,” the girl said. She shuffled her feet a bit, looking...embarrassed? Luke was about to reply, but she kept talking. 

“The other girls at the academy don’t want to be my friend ‘cause I’m the princess and they’re afraid that Mother will arrest them if they’re mean. Which is stupid, but…”

“You’re a princess?” Luke was skeptical; she didn’t act like the princesses in the stories Aunt Beru tells him. Maybe dream princesses are different?

The girl stomped her foot. “That’s not the point! Dreams are supposed to help deal with stuff in the real world, so...so…”

Luke stared, not sure what the fidgeting girl was talking about. “What?”

The girl swallowed visibly before squaring her shoulders and looking right in his eyes. “Do you want to be friends?” she almost shouted in his face. 

It was more of a demand than a request. Luke blinked, and thought, there wasn’t any reason to say yes. But there also wasn’t any reason to say no, plus touching meant he could play in puddles, so…

“Okay! I’m Luke. What’s your name?”

The girl smiled. “I’m Leia!”

Suddenly, there was a bright light and roaring noise that made him shut his eyes and cover his ears. The once calm sand was swirling around him, stinging and burning—

There was someone shaking his shoulder. He was on his bed, it was storming outside, and Aunt Beru was shaking his shoulder. 

“It’s time for dinner, sleepyhead! We’re having your favorite,” she said with a smile. 

Luke paused, still reeling from the very strange dream. And then his stomach growled, and he shot up out of bed. 

As Luke and his family ate their roasted vegetables with spicy-sweet sauce, Luke told his Aunt and Uncle about his dream. 

“And there were little sticks of grass everywhere! Just growing out of the ground!”

Aunt Beru smiled. “They’re called ‘blades’ of grass, dear. And that sounds like quite a dream!”

“Yeah! And Leia was kind of weird, but we played tag and now we’re friends!”

Aunt Beru bit her lip and shared a quick look with Uncle Owen, a look that Luke didn’t miss. He slumped in his chair. 

“But we’re not, are we? Can’t be friends with a dream,” Luke muttered. He rested his chin on the table and felt his face scrunch into a pout. 

“Sit up straight, Luke,” Uncle Owen scolded. Luke reluctantly leaned back into his chair. “And dreams aren’t...well. You don’t need dreams to give you friends. What about that Darklighter boy?”

“Yeah...I guess you’re right.” Luke didn’t mention that Biggs was three years older than him, and while he liked Luke plenty, there was only so much time Biggs wanted to spend around a “little kid.” 

They finished their meal somewhat subdued, with his uncle and aunt talking a bit about their water stores and the need to check the perimeter fence as soon as the storm lets up. 

Luke was quiet for the rest of the night. He went back to his room and picked up his model starship. He tried to imagine he was a rebel commander, taking down empire ships and saving the day, but he kept thinking about the dream. 

He eyed the bed. It was close to his bedtime, and while he usually went to bed with great reluctance, this time was different.

He shook off his shoes and crawled into bed. He closed his eyes, mentally chanting, “ _ Leia...Leia...Leia… _ ”

Luke wasn’t sure how well his mental conviction was since while he found himself in the desert at first dawn like last time, he didn’t see any trees. At this time of the day, before the second sun rose, the day was still rather cold. He didn’t feel any chill though; if anything he felt a great sense of warmth. 

Beggar’s Canyon was at his back, and the barren wasteland of Tatooine was before him. He turned around, trying to spot the dream tree that was near the canyon last time. 

Instead, he saw a large gathering of green and brown objects in the distance. Just like before, he took off running and seemed to run several klicks in mere seconds. He stood at the edge of what was once a single tree that was now a scattering of large trees growing out of the sand. No dark soil or grass like the forest, but there were several puddles of clear water dotting the ground. This new dream place didn’t look like any environment he knew. 

“You’re back!” a voice yelled into his ear. He jumped and turned to see Leia standing next to him, still with her perfect white dress and intricate braids. 

“What happened?” he asked, waving his hand at the trees. 

Leia took his hand, and they both paused as they looked around, waiting for a change. Nothing happened. 

“Everything looks the same,” Leia said. “After that bright light. The ground turned to sand and there were less trees. And you were gone.” She gave him a glare. 

Luke shrugged. “Aunt Beru woke me up for dinner.”

Leia raised a delicate eyebrow. “You sleep before dinner?” She sounded skeptical. 

“Not usually! Look, you said you wanted to be friends, right?”

“Yeah…” 

Luke nodded resolutely. “And the first step of friendship is…” He didn’t actually know the steps for being friends. He’d known Biggs for as long as he could remember. “The first step...is to climb that tree!” Luke pointed at the large tree in the center of their small forest–the same tree that was the center of the first dream.

Leia stared at him, looking like she might protest. Then she shrugged and ran to the base of the tree. Luke followed, and he got to climb his first tree with his new friend. 

He wasn’t sure how long he spent having fun with Leia. They climbed trees, splashed in puddles, and chased each other through the sand. What felt like barely any time, however, they heard the soft echo of a voice calling from a distance. It was calling Leia’s name. 

Leia stood up, and then vanished. Luke stared at the spot where Leia once stood, but for some reason, he wasn’t worried. 

Somehow, he knew he would see her again. 


	2. The Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia makes some friends at school and overhears a disturbing conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday! Woohoo! I'm 22! Here's a chapter update!

Leia was not usually one to laze about in bed. Her parents had always remarked that she was unique in that she always woke with the sun when other kids her age would love to sleep through the day if they could. 

Lately, though, she had been sleeping as late as she could get away with. Sleep was when she could spend time with her dream friend, Luke. Who may or may not be real, but she’d never had dreams that were this consistent and realistic before, so he had to be at least a little bit real!

Unfortunately, they had figured out that they could only meet in dreams if Luke had gone to bed early and if Leia had slept in late. They had a few hours of the time when they were both asleep and could meet at the sandy forest. Leia thought those rules were stupid and told her dream friend the same.

“It’s not my fault!” Luke said, even though it was his fault because he was the dream. Or maybe it was her fault because she dreamed that it was happening? “And I thought we agreed neither of us are dreams.”

“You have to admit it’s kind of implausible,” Leia said, crossing her arms. 

“What’s implausible mean?” Luke asked. He didn’t have the biggest vocabulary, and the first time Leia had made fun of him for it. Then he started crying because Leia was being mean. And then called her a rich sleemo. And then Leia started crying because her friend was crying and calling her names. To avoid starting another mutual meltdown, Leia agreed to be nicer, and Luke said he would be nice as long as she was nice. Her father would probably say this was good diplomatic training. 

“It means not realistic.”

“Oh.” Luke splashed his toes in the crystal clear water of one of the ponds. Their shared dream environment was confusing; she knew most of what was here would never actually happen in nature. The small ponds in the sand were supposed to make the sand muddy and sticky, but the sand remained light and dry in the water. Leia also knew that trees like these weren’t supposed to be able to grow in arid climates, yet here they were, digging deep roots into the loose, hot sand. 

“Does it matter if one of us is a dream, though? Which would be you, because I’m definitely real and definitely asleep right now,” Luke said. 

“That’s what any boy that was just a dream would say!” Leia refuted. This was a popular argument between the two of them. Who was real and who was just part of a dream. Both were convinced they were real, and Luke was imaginative enough to believe that Leia was real as well, and they had some kind of magical connection. Leia was more skeptical. 

Luke gave her a flat look and splashed water at her with his foot. Leia retaliated by throwing sand at his head. Luke cupped more water in his hands and managed to get her braids wet. Clearly, this was an act of war and must be responded to accordingly. 

Luke had the advantage of being a bit faster than her because he would always show up in a tunic and pants while she was stuck with whatever dress she wore that day, but he had also taken his shoes off to play in the water. After a few minutes of rigorous chasing, Leia managed to tackle him. 

“AH! Get off!” Luke squirmed as she pinned him to the sand. Then started laughing as she tickled his ribs. 

“Declare your surrender, devilish insurgent!” Leia crowed. 

“What’s an insur-AH STOP!” Luke tried to roll over, but Princess Leia would not be defeated! “I surrender! I surrender!”

Leia smirked and sat on the ground beside her friend, a bit out of breath herself and still giggling. Luke sat up grumpily and shook the sand out of her hair, which of course, sprayed at her as well. 

“Gross, Luke!” He made a long fart noise with his tongue in response. She did the same, and soon they were trying to outdo each other by making the loudest fake fart noise they could. Luke won by making a rather impressive one using his elbow. 

“Has your fancy school gotten any better?” Luke asked when they had run out of ways to make fart noises. 

“Not really,” Leia complained. “The kids are mostly nice to me, but no one wants to talk or braid hair with me at lunch. The teachers said I needed to be ‘less intense,’ but how do I do that?”   
Luke shrugged. 

“Do you think I’m too intense?” Leia asked. 

“Uh...no? Maybe?” Luke said. 

“What do you mean, ‘maybe?’”

“I don’t know. You’re kind of intense when it comes to games. And one time when you brought up the debate team age limit you shouted for like an hour.”

“It’s stupid that the age limit is thirteen!” Leia insisted. “But...I guess I see what you mean.”

Luke scratched his scalp, looking like he was thinking hard. “I don’t really know how to make friends...Biggs’s parents are friends with my aunt and uncle, and Camie doesn’t like me. Maybe you could just ask like you asked me?”

“You’re a dream, a real kid wouldn’t react that way!” Leia said. She stood up, started to pace, and ignored Luke’s mutters of not being a dream. “I need a plan...something to have in common!”

Luke sighed. “You and the other girls all like braiding hair, right? That’s something in common.”

“I can’t just...ask to be part of their braid train! It has to be a personal connection between close friends…” Or that’s what she thought. It looked like it was a special ceremony between close friends. 

“What have you got to lose? Or,” Luke gained a sly look in his eyes, “are you too scared to ask?”

“I’m not scared of anything!” Leia lied. She was scared of a lot of things, like the dark, and bugs, and stormtroopers, and falling out of an airlock and freezing to death in space. 

“You better prove it then! Or else this dream-boy is going to think you’re a scaredy-cat forever and ever!” 

Leia glared. “Fine! I’ll show—”

The sandy forest was gone in a flash of white, and Leia grumpily woke up to a servant gently shaking her awake. She hated it when she woke up in the middle of telling Luke something. 

Leia kicked her feet back and forth as her maidservant braided her hair. The princes and princesses of Alderaan were always identifiable by their complicated braids and pure white attire, and whenever she was anywhere besides school, she had to wear them. Leia liked the braids and white outfits for the most part, but the white fabric was easy to get dirty, and after a long day, her scalp started to hurt. At least she didn’t have to wear the hair extensions anymore. 

“Your mother and father will be joining you for breakfast, Your Highness,” her maidservant said. “Afterwards, I will escort you to your driver for the academy.” 

Leia jumped off the chair and barely stopped herself from running down the hall. While her father thought “running around like a maniac,” as her mother said, was quite funny to watch, it made the servants nervous, and some even chased after her. She didn’t know why, it’s not like she’d ever broken anything! Or rather, anything important. 

Breakfast was a lot fancier than usual since her parents were often busy with royal duties at this time. They always were present for dinner, but Leia usually had her breakfast by herself with a single dish requested to the cook. There was a lavish buffet of eggs, meat, bread, and vegetable dishes with her parents present. Leia took her seat at the left hand of her mother and gave her parents a smile. 

“Good morning, my darling,” her mother said. She tucked a stray hair behind Leia’s ear. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, mother,” Leia said. She had not told her parents about Luke the Dream Boy. It was still too weird to acknowledge, especially after a few months of meeting in dreams made it feel like Luke was a real person, not just a dream. She didn’t know how her parents would react to her telling them she was meeting a real person through dreaming. 

“Are you excited for school today?” her father asked. Leia nodded. 

“We are going to be practicing High Galactic with some of the older students again.” Leia grinned deviously. “One of the students said he might even teach us some bad words!”

Her mother sent her a disapproving look, but her father chuckled. “It is hard to find real bad words in High Galactic,” he said. “It’s only spoken by the Imperial families on Coruscant nowadays, and even then only for ceremonial purposes. The worst insult I’ve heard in High Galactic is that I prepared tea in a disappointing manner.”

“It is no small crime to make poor tasting tea,” her mother remarked. Both of her parents were in a fair mood; maybe this was the time to ask?

“Father?” Leia said. She did not dare address her mother, who she knew would say no. 

“Yes, Leia?” 

“May...may I learn how to use a blaster?”

There was a silence from both her parents and the upsetting knowledge that neither her mother nor father would say yes. “Absolutely not!” her mother said, which was to be expected.

“Leia, I’m sorry, but you are too young to use a blaster,” her father said, which was not surprising, but still disappointing. 

“Other kids can use blasters! And don’t you want me to learn to defend myself?” Leia protested. 

Her father raised an eyebrow. “What children do you know that can use blasters? For that matter, what blaster would be small enough for a child your size?”

“I don’t know! And it’s not…” Leia pouted. “Nevermind.” 

Her mother sighed. “We want as any other parent would for you to defend yourself when in danger. But right now, your best defense is to run if you are ever in any dangerous circumstances that would require a blaster.”

“But what if I need one? What if I get stranded in the wilderness, and I have to hunt for food, and the only weapon nearby is a blaster? Then I’d starve!” 

“I highly doubt you will be stranded in the woods before you turn thirteen,” her mother replied.

“Thirteen?”

“That is when you will be trained to shoot, as well as other physical forms of defense.”

Leia sighed. “That’s such a long time...I’ll be too old and feeble to learn to shoot by then…”

Her father laughed. “You are almost nine years old, little one. You will be thirteen before you know it.”

Leia grumpily chewed her buttered toast. She had fibbed to her parents earlier; she didn’t really care about learning to defend herself, though that would be cool. Luke had brought up that he was getting better at hitting targets with the blaster rifle, and it had shocked her that a boy her age would be allowed to shoot a blaster. Luke said he needed it if he ever ran into “sand people” or “womp rats,” neither of which sounded real. Luke had sworn they were both real and very dangerous. 

Honestly, Luke’s life was cooler than she could ever imagine. Tatooine sounded like a planet that was constantly trying to kill you, plus it was in the Outer Rim, so there would be minimal aid from the Empire. Luke would deny it, saying he probably lived the most boring life in the galaxy as a moisture farmer. But he got to shoot blasters, and drive landspeeders, and his neighbor was even a real wizard! Or a rumored wizard. Leia thinks he’s probably a real wizard, to match the other facts of Luke’s crazy life. 

It would be very unlikely that Leia would need to use a blaster any time soon, even when she did turn thirteen. The royal family was accompanied by guards everywhere, and there were highly skilled security teams all over the palace. Before Leia was enrolled at the already well-protected Academy, the royal guards increased the security even more to ensure the Princess would never be in danger. 

She knew it was for the best, and that she should always be grateful for the life her parents provided, but sometimes she was really jealous of Luke. 

School was both exhilarating and mind-numbing. She was glad she got to learn new things, and her teachers were generally very friendly and good at teaching, but the other kids…

Leia didn’t know how to deal with them. 

Luke said that she should just go up and ask to be friends, but he didn’t get it. She was the Princess of Alderaan. Everyone was already weird around her, what if she messed up and then everyone thought she was too dumb to be Princess? And then her parents would find out and send her to live in the mountains and raise nerfs and then she would die of frostbite because she wouldn’t know how to make winter clothes by herself. 

It was lunchtime. The girls and boys in her grade were dispersed among the grass and playgrounds on campus, and there was a group of girls sitting down with their hands in each other’s hair. Leia had been watching them for weeks, trying to figure out how to become part of their hair train. 

She had concluded there was no password, but you did need some kind of connection to get in. Three of the girls were neighbors, and the other two girls had met and became friends at the start of the school year. Leia wasn’t sure how to form a connection herself, and she had been told that staring at people just made them uncomfortable. 

Leia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Not a scaredy-cat,” she muttered. Leia walked up to the group of girls, chanting in her head, “Hi, can I join you? Hi, I’m Leia, can I braid hair with you? Hi, I’m Leia, and I would like to be friends,” over and over. 

She came to a stop in front of one of the girls. They looked up at her. She looked down at them. Her voice got stuck in her throat.

“Hi?” one of the girls said. She had long blonde hair and freckles. She was the last girl on the braid train and was the only one not having her hair played with.   
“C-can I join?” Leia stuttered. Oh no, this was going all wrong, she didn’t say it right! She was going to be exiled!

“Sure! Can you braid my hair? I don’t think I can put your hair back into those fancy braids,” the blonde girl said. Leia was frozen for a few seconds. She just...said yes? Immediately?

“Um. Yeah! Definitely!” Leia took a seat behind the blonde girl, smoothing her uniform skirt down against the grass. She started combing through the girl’s hair with her fingers. 

“I’m Winter, by the way,” she said. “And this is Spinna, Alli, and Lola.”

“Hi,” the other three girls chorused. 

“I’m Leia,” Leia replied.

“We know,” Spinna said, then whined when Winter tugged on her hair a bit too hard. 

“Do we have to call you Princess Leia? Or Your Highness? Or was it Your Majesty?” Lola asked. 

“Um, just Leia. All the teachers call me Leia here.” Leia wasn’t sure if Lola would have to call her Princess if she saw her outside of school. 

“Okay, cool.” The girls braided hair in silence after that. Leia decided to give Winter a fishtail braid. It was easy and neat looking, and wouldn’t need any pins like a crown braid would. 

It was near the end of the break when all the girls finished their braids. “Wow, Leia! This is so cool!” Winter admired her hair that was weaved into a long fishtail braid over her shoulder. 

“It looks like a mermaid tail!” Alli said. 

“Can you show us how to braid like this?” Winter asked. 

“Maybe tomorrow? At-at lunch again?” Leia said nervously. This all seemed too good to be true. 

“Sure!”

The bell rang, and all the students were ushered back into the classrooms. Leia felt like she was walking on air. She had made friends! She had joined the braid train! She was not a scaredy-cat, take that Luke!

Her parents were not there to greet her when she arrived home, which was expected. She usually took the time to practice the flute, which she needed to do at least fifteen minutes every day, or else her music teacher would lecture her. Leia entered the music room, which contained multiple instruments that her parents expected her to learn to play eventually, and long bookcases containing antique music records that could be played on the ancient music player in the corner. 

Leia idly ran her fingers along the cases, stalling for time. Playing the flute was not very fun. She hadn’t been doing it long enough for it to sound remotely pleasing yet, and she preferred listening to music than playing it. But knowledge of the arts was just as important as knowledge of politics for a princess. Apparently. 

A record on the opposite wall caught her eye. There wasn’t anything special about it. It looked like any other record in the room. But something about it was drawing her to it. She walked up to it and tried to pull it out. It only came out halfway, and she heard a soft clank sound behind the bookcase. 

Leia’s eyes widened. She grasped the wood of the case and pulled. Part of the bookcase opened up, revealing a secret chamber. She found one! She found a secret tunnel! She only knew about two in the palace for emergencies, but Mother said she could find others if she looked! 

Leia shuffled into the secret tunnel, grinning widely. Emergency lights dimly lit the tunnel in the ceiling, but it was still quite hard to see. She kept the bookcase door open in case she accidentally got trapped in the tunnel. 

Leia walked for a while through the tunnel. It was a bit dusty, and there were probably pipes that ran close because she could occasionally hear the sound of water rushing through the walls. After walking for what felt like fifteen minutes, she heard voices. 

It sounded like her parents! Leia quickly tiptoed to the sound source, trying to figure out where she was in the palace. Possibly near Father’s office, if she was right about the distance. She found part of the tunnel wall giving off a faint light through some kind of canvas material. Leia thinks it might be a painting. She couldn’t see a peek hole to look into the room, but she could hear her parents a lot better. 

“One of our spies on Coruscant came back with this. It’s not good,” her father said. Leia almost gasped. 

Mother and Father were trying to be sneaky, but Leia was on to them! She knew they were probably discussing rebellion things, and it was dangerous if she knew about it, but she was so curious! Luke often complained that nothing ever happened on Tatooine, but at least he got to shoot womp rats and fly skyhoppers and live near an actual wizard!

Alderaan was a peaceful planet, and her parents were protective of her. Over-protective, in her opinion. They wouldn’t let her fly a skyhopper like Luke can. She was only a few years younger than the age limit! Anyway, the Queen and Senator of Alderaan were rumored to have rebel connections, and Leia wants to be involved. She was almost nine; she was definitely ready!

“Are we sure this information is legitimate?” her mother said. 

“Positive. And...we can’t go on and ignore it, even if it was in doubt,” her father replied. Leia wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but it sounded interesting! She huddled closer to the painting. 

“How could Tahn have revealed this? I thought he was loyal to Padme to the end…” Her mother sounded upset. 

“There’s only so long loyalty will hold under the Empire’s idea of questioning.” Her father sounded angry. Could this be about the Rebellion, after all?

“Bail…”

“Electrocution, nerve-amplifying drugs, and followed by the slow amputation of his limbs. How barbaric has he become?”

Leia didn’t hear her mother’s reply. She was backing away from the secret entrance. She wasn’t sure she understood what she just heard. She knew what “electrocution” meant. And she knew what nerves were, though she didn’t know what nerve drugs would do. And...she knew what amputation was…

Leia ran back to the music room. She didn’t want to think about what she heard anymore, even if it was about the Rebellion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to imagine that before Leia got more practice with socializing outside rigid royal etiquette lessons, she was a nervous little girl. Also, I don't know much about the comics, but Winter is a pretty cool character from what I've seen, so she may or may not be featured more.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment and tell me what you think!


End file.
